


Unspoken

by Disaster_the_Real



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:06:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27701803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Disaster_the_Real/pseuds/Disaster_the_Real
Summary: What can I say, I love dragon age and I love this pairing for some reason.The story takes place in Dragon Age Inquisition for the most part, right after the Inquisition arrives at the winter palace in Halamshiral where Leliana will meet her former teammate again after several years.This is my first (published) fanfic so far, I hope you enjoy!
Relationships: Leliana/Morrigan (Dragon Age)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Side note: English is not my mother tongue, I'm actually swiss haha so please forgive me for mistakes in grammar and wordings.
> 
> Also thanks to my talented friend Hemosnixuality, who helped me with the beginning! Check out her amazing work and leave some kudos!

(First part is written by my dear friend, [Hemosnixuality](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hemosnixuality/pseuds/Hemosnixuality), go check her out)

Tonight, was a night of the utmost importance as the balance of an empire hinged on how smoothly (or how unsmooth) this event went. The Inquisitor was surely to be in attendance but whether or not they would decide to sway in favor of Empress Celene or not had yet to be determined. Still, it was going to ever be the spectacle and Leliana knew she wouldn't want to miss it.

Working with the Inquisition had given her a new sense of purpose again, having long forgotten just what causes she stood for. It had been a long time since she had found happiness, but something told her that tonight would change all that. It was a gut feeling more than anything else, but something was drawing her here and she owed it to herself to find out what that meant. It could be nothing more than an overactive imagination or maybe it would be something she'd never expected. Either way, tonight was sure to be interesting.

Leliana makes her way into the ballroom and is taken by just how extravagantly elegant the decor is. Expensive jewels adorn every surface and the atmosphere reeked of high society, the elitist of the elite. It was not a crowd she ever saw herself with, but there are always exceptions to every rule. She would mingle for appearances sake, but her main goal for this evening was one thing.

Observation.

It was what she did best and what better time to pay attention than when everyone dropped their guards. It would allow her an almost unrivaled insight to the nobility and maybe (if she was lucky) something useful down the line. She would bide her time and make the rounds, smiling at every unfunny joke, pretending everyone was just oh so amusing... it was going to be such a delight.

Leliana had done a precursory skim of the attendant's when she first arrived, but none stuck out more than usual. Surely there would be someone around here who wouldn't be a total bore or sleaze. Maybe she would have better luck outside, plus it wouldn't hurt to get some fresh air.

Making her way out of the ballroom, Leliana heads down a hallway, but she doesn't make it far before something catches her eyes, or should she say ear. There was a sound, a voice, one that made her pause in her tracks. It sounded hauntingly familiar, but there was no way that it could be who she thinks it is. Surely it is just her mind playing tricks, perhaps taking in the arrogance as fumes to cause some sort of hallucination. She wants to just ignore it and continue on her walk, but something tells her that she'll regret it if she doesn't see it for herself.

Ducking down the next opening, Leliana follows the sound of the faint voice until it become far more prominent. The closer she gets, the more nervous Leliana becomes. She assumed that the voice would change once she was within earshot, but it has done anything but. It remains raspy, slightly deeper than the average pitch usually is for a woman. A sound that is a melancholy melody, playing her favorite tune in an abandoned town of yesterday. A tune that brings with it a flood of memories from the past, threatening to crash over her and drown her for good.

Her steps are quiet and precise that not even the floorboards creak beneath her feet. She stays towards the wall, keeping a hand on it at all times. It helps her keep focused as feeling the cool marble beneath her fingertips reminds her that she wasn't dreaming. There wasn't much space left to go before she would reach its opening and be face to face with an entity from her past.

Taking those precious few steps left, Leliana peers her head around the corner and sees her.

Leliana found herself holding her breath as she took in the woman before her, afraid that one wrong move would make this mirage come crashing down around her. Never again did she expect their paths to cross, much less at a place like this. It wasn't her world, at least it never was, so what in the world brought her here? Leliana has so many questions about everything, but there was one that gnawed its way to the surface above all else. One question that still plagued her mind to this day.

Why did you leave me?

There was no warning, no message left, she had just up and vanished overnight. It was like she had completely disappeared which left Leliana alone and confused. She had thought there was a connection between them, a spark, but she never was able to find out. Instead, she had to pick up the pieces herself and move on with her life like her heart wasn't absolutely shattered. It was this woman who tormented her dreams and now, here in front of her, she stood in the flesh and was very much real and not a figment of her imagination. It was the woman who stole her heart without even knowing it.

Morrigan.  
  


* * *

Leliana doesn’t realize how long she was looking at the other woman, lost in that painful memory. Not until she noticed she has been recognized as well.

„I suppose I should not be surprised to meet _you_ at a place like this.“

„Morrigan.“ She replies, not sure how to react, or what to say. Not sure how to feel about, looking in those familiar, yellow colored, almost golden glowing eyes again after the years that have passed.

The dark-haired woman looks at her in silence, her facial expression unreadable like most times. 

„What are you doing here in the Winter Palace?” The redhead asks to break the silence. She tries her best to keep her voice neutral but her eyes reflect her anger that sneaks up on her now.  
  


“Perhaps this might surprise you, but I happen to be Empress’ Celene’s current advisor for the occult witchcraft”  
  


The Bard raises her brows. She knows it could not be that simple and there’s far more behind her reasons to be in Halamshiral. Morrigan never does something without gaining anything from it. But it doesn’t matter at the moment, she has her own duties to take care of, she’s not here for the entertainment as much as she enjoys to visit Orlais once again. She decides she will find out Morrigan’s true intentions later.  
  
“If you are her advisor you sure are aware of the danger the empress is in tonight, aren’t you?”  
  


“Indeed, I am, tis the reason I shall return now. We may meet again later.”  
  


With those words, Morrigan looks at Leliana for a brief moment then turns around to make her way upstairs, back to the balcony of the empress.

-

Leliana keeps her eyes focused on the witch until she’s out of her sight. She looks at the huge mechanic clock on one of those beautiful marble walls. It is time to return to the rest of her team so they can discuss what they found out while wandering around the palace, listening to conversations and whispers, talking to the noble people of Orlais.  
  
  
After some discussing on who they should trust they eventually find enough evidence to unmask the assassin who is trying to kill empress Celene – It was not Briala and neither Gaspard despite the motives they both seemed to have to want the empress dead. I fact it was someone none of them expected: grand duchess Florianne.  
  
When the Inquisitor confronts the grand duchess after defeating her in a fight in the garden of the winter palace, she admits she has been working for Corypheus all along.  
  
Florianne has been arrested and the Empress is safe, at least for now. Celene agreed on working together with Briala and Gaspard instead of against them.  
  
The Inquisition, quite pleased with the outcome of this event, enjoys the rest of the festive activities in the palace.  
  
-

The bard makes her way to one of the many balconies of this enormous building to get some air.

The last sunbeams went down hours ago, the sky is dark, only a few stars are shimmering trough the cloudy night. Outside the only things you can hear mumbles and some muffled sounds from the music that is playing inside the castle walls. The bard enjoys the silence, leaning her elbows on the railing of the balcony, looking into the dark night. She still doesn’t know how to cope the most recent meeting with her past but at least she can return to Skyhold soon and leave all this behind her once again.  
  
She gets torn out of thoughts as she hears steps behind her. They are slow, the rhythm oddly familiar. The maker has a strange kind of humor she thought to herself, slightly frustrated at this point, before turning around to face the visitor.  
  
  


“I must say I am surprised you are not seeming to enjoy the party. Tis exactly what you liked about Orlais, is it not?”  
  
  


Of course the witch was right. She did enjoy Orlesian festivities. People tend to talk a lot about really everything when they drink good whine and the bard loved to hear the newest rumors and deepest secrets of the drunk nobility. She loved to judge other people’s fashion sense and she still does even though she is not working as a bard anymore. But she is obviously not in the mood for anything like this at the moment.  
  
  
“I don’t think this is any of your business, Morrigan.”

Morrigan is aware that she caused disappointment and anger by her actions, by leaving the group. But the instant rejection she experiences right now? It feels odd to see her former teammate acting like this. Of course even Leliana wasn’t cheerful and happy all the time, she had her quiet moments, she got angry or sad like everyone else does.  
  


And yet for some reasons the witch could sense that the redhead has changed over the years. She doesn’t know why or how but she isn’t looking into the same bright blue eyes as she did in the past.  
  
However, she is willing to find out what caused the change, what she missed since she left.  
  
  
“Perhaps not, but the Inquisition might actually be my business from now on” She steps closer to lean her back at the railing of the balcony.  
  
  
Leliana looks at her in disbelief.   
  
  
“What do you mean?” she asks pulling her brows together.  
  
  
“Empress Celene decided, if we’re really up against this Corypheus, the Inquisition has a far bigger need of an advisor for powerful and dark magic than herself. She orders me to join the Inquisitor instead.”  
  


Leliana’s jaw almost drops hearing those words. This cannot be real. Maker, what did she do to deserve this kind of torture? Didn’t she always stay loyal to the church? Will she really have to work with Morrigan again? This is the last thing she needs right now. Her heart literally cannot endure being stabbed with a knife again, she’s still recovering from the latest strike. She’s still picking up the pieces and she doesn’t know how she could possible handle having this woman around her again.

  
She’s aware how powerful the witch is and that her knowledge is indeed a big advantage for them but she just cannot let herself trust her again, not that easily at least and not right now.

  
“I see, well her choice makes sense, I guess”

  
Morrigan decides to end the conversation for now, they will eventually have to talk later at some point anyway.

  
“Well enjoy the rest of the night then, I will see you at Skyhold.”  
  


And with those words, the witch went back inside to leave the redhead alone with her thoughts once again.   
  
  


  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Inquisition including Morrigan, arrives back at Skyhold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's not the 4th of december yet but I already wish you a Happy unofficial Dragon Age Day! :)
> 
> I hope you enjoy the read!

After something that felt like forever they arrived at Skyhold. Morrigan has heard of this fortress so high up the Frostback Mountain, it seems to be floating in the sky, but she’s never seen it with her own eyes. It is bigger than she would have imagined and no matter in which direction she looked, there is nothing to be seen around these giant caste walls but snow and mountain peaks.  
  


“Tis quite impressive, Inquisitor” she admits as they enter the huge gate at the end of the bridge.  
  


As she lets her eyes wander around, she realized it was not only a very remarkable fortress but also it seems to have some sort of a very small village within these walls. There are market stalls with armory, weapons, maps, books, fabrics and jewelries from all over Thedas.

Horse noises coming from the stables nearby mix with the clang of swords from the training recruits.

The mighty stone walls, who protected the many owners of the fortress from all kinds of enemies over the years – if not centuries, sure have suffered damage. Some parts have been destroyed, some of them clearly have been rebuilt not too long ago. And yet, they still look splendid indeed.  
  
The Inquisitor chuckles by Morrigan’s words then climbs the stairs that lead to the entry of the main part of the fortress.  
  


“Wait until you see the heart piece of Skyhold” She replies, before she pushes the big wooden doors open.

  
The heavy doors answer with a creaking sound.

A large hall extends in front of them. There are tables on both sides, some guests are talking.

Various fire bowls are placed around the hall as well. They give off a pleasant warmth which Morrigan appreciated a lot after traveling up the snowy mountains, the cold wind blowing mercilessly above their heads.  
  


“I’m guessing you would like to warm up and rest for a bit?” The Inquisitor asks, walking through the hall.  
  
“That would be nice, yes.” The witch agrees while looking around a bit more.

It seems Leliana has vanished already even though, she and the ambassador were walking behind her just a few moments ago. She really has that ability to appear and disappear completely noiseless. Morrigan has always acknowledged her specific skillset, but of course she never said that out loud.

Maybe she should have.  
  
  


“Alright, let me show you the guest room Josephine prepared for you then” the Inquisitor continues

“Please follow me”  
  
  


Morrigan gets rid out of her thoughts by this request and turns around to follow her through a door on the left side of the hall. The Inquisitor leads her to some sort of outdoor hallway where several mostly unused rooms await.  
  
  


“Here you go” Trevelyan opens the first door and steps back to let her new advisor pass.  
  


“Please feel free to make yourself at home, Lady Morrigan.”  
  


“I have not acquired any titles, you may just call me Morrigan.”  
  


“As you wish” she replies with an amused smile. “I’m not really a fan of any titles people tend to give me neither. But anyway, if you got any requests please talk to Josephine and she will take care of it immediately.”

  
“Thank you, this place seems just fine.” she assures as she takes a look at the guest room.

The room is bigger than it appeared from the outside. It has a window opposite the entry where most of the light is coming from, a shelf made of dark wood, probably walnut and a quite tall bed made of the same material. There is also a fire bowl in a corner of the room, similar to those in the great hall, slightly smaller, to keep it warm in those cold winter nights. Everything looks nice and clean, the ambassador seems to be very dutiful.  
  
  


“I will let you rest now, see you tomorrow” The herald announces.  
  


Morrigan nods in response and watches the Inquisitor closing the door behind her after she left the room.  
  
The witch sighs then leans her staff carefully against the wall and let’s herself fall into bed. Her mind is racing, trying to find any sense in the way she’s feeling right now.  
  
It took her quite long to admit to herself that she somehow developed feelings for that ridiculously annoying chantry girl, feelings she never felt before and confused the hell out of her to the point she couldn’t handle it anymore and forced herself to leave the group – to leave her.

She wanted to get rid of those feelings which made her feel weak and vulnerable. The racing heart whenever they got closer than usual, getting attached to that bard and the sudden fear she might get seriously injured or even fall during one of their many battles. She hated everything about it and only wanted to get back to be all by herself again like she used to be.  
  
And after she left she was by herself again. But it was not as pleasant as she thought it would be. For the first time in her life she felt something one would call loneliness. She was stubborn enough to ignore this feeling though and with time it got less and less, almost vanished – until yesterday.

That unexpected meeting at the winter palace really caught her off guard. She could literally feel her oppressed feelings flare up the moment she looked at the redhead.  
She even realized where she got the idea for that dress she wore that evening in the first place. It was her who suggested this specific look, years ago, when they were traveling through Denerim.  
  
  


 _"_ _You are very beautiful, Morrigan” the redhead randomly points out while walking around._

_“Tell me something I do not know.” Morrigan replies slightly annoyed._   
  


_“But you always dress in such rags. It suits you I suppose. A little tear here, a little rip there to show some skin. I understand.”_

_  
“You understand I lived in a forest, I hope?” The witch raises her brows._

_  
_ _“Maybe we could get you in a nice dress one day. Silk. No, maybe velvet. Velvet is heavier, better to guard against the cold in Ferelden. Dark red velvet, yes. With gold embroidery. It should be cut low in the front of course, we don't want to hide your features.” She continues unbothered by the response._

_  
_ _“Stop looking at my breasts like that. 'Tis most disturbing!” Morrigan points out, trying to avoid eye contact at any cost._

_  
_ _“You don't think so? And if it's cut low in the front we must put your hair up to show off that lovely neck.” Leliana proceeds, looking at the dark haired woman._

_  
_ _“You are insane. I would sooner let Alistair dress me.” She replies to signal the conversation is over.  
  
_

_“It'll be fun, I promise! We'll get some shoes too! Ah, shoes! We could go shopping together!” The bard insists, remaining cheerful._

Morrigan sighs at this memory, she never understood her weird obsession with fashion … and shoes. In her opinion, clothes have their purpose in being functional, no more and no less.  
But she has to admit, that Leliana’s fashion knowledge was the reason Morrigan could even live in the winter palace. If she were dressed like her usual self they would never let her inside in the first place. She would never say that out loud but she really learned a lot from the bard’s gossip, if she likes it or not.

She now notices how exhausted she actually is from the travel and the recent events so she decides to close her eyes and get some rest. She will take care of things tomorrow she thought to herself before falling asleep.

* * *

Josephine notices Leliana’s disappearance right after they arrive at Skyhold with confusion. She decides to follow her since she’s pretty sure where she’s headed.

And she was right – as she climbs the last few stairs to the rookery she can already spot the redhead, kneeling on the floor in front of her chapel.  
Josephine quietly steps closer to her friend who’s deepened in prayers.  
  


“Why did you follow me, Josie?” the bard asks, without turning around or opening her eyes. Her voice calm as usual.  
  


“I was wondering why you disappeared this quickly, you didn’t talk much on our way back either” the ambassador answers, eyeing her carefully for any reaction at all.  
  


“It’s her, isn’t it?” Josephine continues after a short break to let her finish her prayers. “I have never met her myself but this witch sure looks exactly like you have described her many times”  
  
  
Leliana stands up now, putting her hood back on.   
  


“She shouldn’t be here. And I hope you have nothing to do with her presence.” She looks at the antivan in front of her with a warning glance.  
  


“I assure you, I have not, neither has Cassandra, we were both equally surprised by the empress’ decision.”  
  


“Good.” She replies, seemingly eased a bit to hear that she hasn’t been backstabbed by her closest friends.

Josephine looks at her slightly concerned, she has heard enough stories about that witch and how much she hurt her. And Leliana has gone through enough pain lately due the loss of her close friend divine Justinia. She almost lost her faith in the maker because of this and the last thing she needs right now is Morrigan stepping in her life to mess with her feelings again.

“Don’t give me that look, Josie.” She raises her brow. “I’m fine, I’m just gonna avoid that woman completely until she leaves again.”  
  


“Are you sure this is going to work? You will certainly meet her at the war table at least.”  
  


“I don’t know what else I should do, besides cutting her throat if this is another trick of hers”  
  


“Niceness before knifes, Leliana” Josephine responds reproachfully. “Maybe… you could talk to her, get things clear?”  
  


Leliana rolled her eyes at that first comment. “I would consider it if she ever stops being… Andraste forgive me, a selfish bitch.” She points out sharply.  
  


Josephine sighs and accepts her defeat for now but she’s not willing to give up completely yet. She still has faith that they will eventually talk this out at least.

  
“Good night, Leliana” Josephine replies with an encouraging smile instead and makes her way to her own quarters, it’s quite late after all.  
  


“Good night, Josie”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morrigan has a chat with Josephine that might clear some things up.
> 
> Also Happy Birthday to my big sister :)

Chapter 3

The next morning comes and Morrigan is already awake and wandering around the beautiful garden of the fortress. A lot of different flowers and herbs are growing all around the place. She isn’t surprised to see a whole bunch of elves root, probably the oldest and most famous herb for medical use. As she keeps strolling through the garden a very familiar smell hits her nose that made her stop and stare at some small white wildflowers.  
  


Andraste’s Grace – of course they would be planted here, she thought to herself. She has not seen this flower in a while actually but she could never forget the sweet smell of it, it immediately reminds her of Leliana, not only because Andraste’s Grace are her favorite flowers, no, she used to smell like them as well. And she kinda liked that. She always smelled really nice in general, which was a welcome change from traveling with Alistair, not gonna lie.  
  
Morrigan looks up when she hears the voice of the ambassador. Josephine seems to get along really well with Leliana, that’s why she planned to speak to her to maybe figure some things out about why the once so cheerful, flirty bard changed so drastically to the cold spymaster and killer she at least appears to be nowadays. Maybe some of it is just a masquerade but she still needed to find out what happened within the last few years of her absence.  
  


Josephine makes her way through the garden and looks a bit surprised to see the witch standing near those flowers.  
  


“Good morning, Morrigan” she greets her, avoiding to say _Lady_ Morrigan, like the Inquisitor asked her to.  
  


“Good morning” she greets her back with a polite nod. “I was hoping to meet you eventually” she continues.

  
“Oh?” Josephine raises her brows in surprise “I hope there is nothing wrong with your quarter? Do you need anything?”

  
The witch chuckles. “Not at all, tis perfectly fine. But I would like to talk about something else, if you might have a moment to spare?”  
  
  


The ambassador looks at the taller woman surprised once again, not entirely sure what to expect from this request. Of course she has an idea where this could lead. There are only a few things that might interest Morrigan at all and even fewer things she would ask _her_ about. She decides to play along, driven by her curiosity.  
  


“Of course, how can I help you?”  
  


“Let’s go for a walk” Morrigan takes a few steps towards the stairs to the fortress walls, asking the ambassador to follow her.  
  


Josephine follows her up to the walls of Skyhold, a cold breeze blows by between the watchtowers, but the sky is clear blue and the sun is rising. It’s very quiet, not many of the villagers are awake yet. Morrigan walks a bit further and stops around the middle of the path.  
  


“I have noticed you get along quite well with the Spymaster” Morrigan starts. “May I ask how long you know each other?”  
  


“We crossed ways a long time ago, we moved through similar circles in Orlais. I believe we actually met in Val Royeaux. But didn’t become good friends until years later, after the blight, in fact.”  
  


Morrigan leans her ellbows towards the wall, looking down to the village.  
  


“So you spent some time together after she came back to Val Royeaux, yes? Can you tell me what happened to her that made her change this much?” she looks up to face Josephine now. She can feel her heart picking up speed, not sure what kind of answer she will get to hear. Secretly hoping it not entirely her fault.  
  


Josephine sighs.  
  


“A lot” she answers, leaning her back at the wall. “I assume she mentioned Divine Justinia at some point of your journey?”  
  


Morrigan nods. But doesn’t say anything else, to not interrupt her.

  
“I will not go into much detail or Leliana will cut my throat for it, actually, she probably will for just talking to you anyway… but she and Justinia knew each other for a very long time and she was probably her closest friend she ever had.” She pauses for a moment before she continues. “As you probably know, Divine Justinia died at the conclave. This is one of the things that broke her, she was devasted and … very angry for a long time, on the edge of losing her faith in Andraste and even the maker himself.”  
  


The witch swallows. It’s true, Leliana mentioned Justinia quite a lot, now that she thinks about it. She always seemed to admire her. And now, Morrigan actually feels very sorry for the bard. She never met another person who had so much faith in the maker as Leliana did, hearing she almost lost this was a shock, even for her.  
  
  


Josephine keeps going after another short break. “Perhaps you are aware, that you are one of the reasons, she changed this much, as well.”  
  
  


“I am. At least since the moment I met her in the winter palace.” Morrigan responds calmly but she could feel a stinging pain in her chest.

„Tell me, Morrigan, what was going on in your mind after the final battle of the blight? Why did you have to hurt her like that? I would really like to understand.“

Morrigan remains silent for a moment. Josephine appears to be very protective of the bard, she noticed this before, in the winter palace. Those two spent an impressive amount of time together and whispering during the ball in Halamshiral. Could it be that they are more than just friends?

And just as this thought crosses her mind, there’s a growing pain in her chest and she feels like it’s tightening up to the point where she’s unable to breathe properly. For a second she is afraid she might get a heart attack, never in her life has she ever felt anything similar to this. What the hell is going on? She is aware that for some reasons, she and Leliana became something people would call friends but why does she feel like _this_ all of sudden? It’s a very unpleasant feeling and it definitely needs to stop.

The witch isn‘t very familiar with relationships of any kind or … feelings but something seems odd to her. 

Josephine observes the witch, mildly puzzled by her unexpected reaction. Is this some kind of trick of her, trying to throw her off the track? But what could she possibly gain from that? It doesn’t make sense that her response is taking so long.  
  


Then a sudden thought occurred her.

_She doesn’t know_.

How would she, if everything Leliana told her about Morrigan is true – and she’s sure it is, then it would make sense that a woman who spent the first 20 years or so of her life alone in the wilds with her mother, being the only social contact she probably ever had, wouldn’t be able to rank this kind of affirmation as anything but sympathy. Or friendship in the best case.  
  
  


„I had personal reasons to leave, it might has been a bit harsh to not inform anyone about it, but I honestly didn’t think it would affect her as much as it apparently did.“ Morrigan finally responds.

This isn’t really the answer the antivan was hoping for but she figures she would not get any further explaining out of the witch. She also decides not to clarify the reason Leliana is so upset about their reunion, she will eventually find out sooner or later, and as an experienced ambassador she knows when it’s better to not intervene too much.

  
Morrigan pushes herself off the wall she was leaning onto. It’s probably time to talk to the bard personally and she has a vague idea where she might find her.

  
“I shall let you go back to work now, thank you for the update” the witch announces.  
  
“It’s been a pleasure” she responds with a polite smile. “Have a nice day” with those words, Josephine makes her way back inside to her desk.  
  


Morrigan looks around if anyone is nearby then uses her shape-shifter ability to transform into a raven and flies off towards the rookery of the fortress. She is pretty sure she is going to find the redhead there.

She used to enjoy spending time with animals when they were traveling through Ferelden, nugs preferably, but also the warden’s dog and ravens.

* * *

After a short flight, Morrigan arrives at the rookery and immediately finds an open window as well. She hushes through window and flies to the roof to blend in with the other ravens and sits on one of the massive wooden beams. They do look relatively worn out, there are a lot of feathers and dust and dirt on them but they seem to remain stable.  
Morrigan looks down to locate the spymaster and she quickly finds her - sitting at her desk, writing something on a piece of parchment. Could be a report, maybe a letter, either way she seems focused. The witch is too curious to resist, so she decides to fly down to get a closer look of her writing.

  
She doesn’t get close enough to even get the smallest glance of her work when a knife flies past her by a hair's breadth. Morrigan gets thrown off her track but stays in the air, letting out a complaining raven noise.  
  


“You better get out of my rookery or the next knife won’t hit the wall behind you, Morrigan.”  
  
The bard speaks surprisingly calm which makes the threat sound even more threatening honestly. Morrigan transforms back to herself and lands gracefully on the floor in front of the desk. She looks at the bard.  
  
  
“What gave me away?”

  
“I do not own a raven with ridiculously amber eyes.” She responds as it should be obvious. Raising a brow.  
  
  
“Tis a good point, it doesn’t matter most of times but I suppose I should work on transforming them as well.” Morrigan chuckles.  
  
  
“Good luck with that. Now leave, I got a lot of work to do and I do not wish any further distractions.”

  
Leliana quickly looks back at her report. She meant to say disturbance… not distraction. Maker, how could one stupid, ignorant witch throw her off guard that easily. She gets confronted with far more pressure just by doing her work as a spymaster and she has no trouble dealing with that. Then this woman intrudes her office and she’s suddenly not able to think straight anymore. When will she finally get rid of those feelings? Hasn’t she been suffering from those one sided attraction long enough already?

  
Morrigan looks at her for a breath moment longer in silence before she turns around to leave the rookery.  
  
  
“And use the stairs like a normal person this time!” The bard adds without taking her eyes off her report, when she notices she’s actually leaving.  
  


The witch smirks by those words, stepping down the stairway.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the Kudos! It really makes me so happy to see people like this little fic! 
> 
> Sorry it took me a while to get chapter 4 done I had a lot to cope around christmas.
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoy

Chapter 4

The Inquisitor calls in her advisors to the daily meeting at the war table to discuss the newest information and the next steps. This is the first time for Morrigan. She looks around a bit when she enters the room with the others.  
  
It’s big, with beautiful decorated windows which flood the round room with daylight. In the middle is a huge, wooden table. Or more like a massive table top sitting on a tree stump. Very natural and indeed beautiful. On top there’s a big map of whole Thedas, on which different figures are placed on various locations. Each figure appears to stand for one of the advisors. One with 2 golden crossed keys, one with a Lionhead on it and a raven with spread wings. Morrigan is still new in the Inquisition but she’s pretty sure she knows which one belongs to which member.

Morrigan stands next to the Inquisitor, Leliana, Josephine and Cullen are on the opposite of the table. Leliana is still avoiding eye contact with the witch at any cost.  
  
The Inquisitor breaks the silence. She explains that their scouts recently discovered some weird shards that contain some old magic. Dagna is exploring them at the moment, trying to find out who made them, how many there are and what for. What they know so far is, that Corypheus is apparently looking for them, he is sending red Templars to different regions of Thedas to find them.

“As you probably figured already, we cannot let Corypheus find them first. That’s why we will send small teams to explore as many areas as fast as possible.” The Inquisitor continues.  
  
  


“I agree, I can also send some of my troops to assist” Cullen adds. “Did you choose the teams already, Inquisitor?”  
  
“Indeed. I decided there should be 2 people for each team. This will be Cassandra and Varric, Dorian and Blackwall, Cullen and the Iron Bull, Leliana and Morrigan. Josephine informed me you two worked together during the blight so I thought you make a great team.”

Leliana gives Josephine a frowning glance. Josie innocently smiles at her friend, looking a little bit too satisfied.  
  
Morrigan just nods at the Inquisitors orders, but does take a short look at Josephine as well, then her eyes meet the bard’s for a split second before the redhead quickly looks away, before anyone would notice.  
  
Meanwhile the herald continues to assign different areas to each team. Morrigan looks at the map when her name drops once again.  
  
  
“Leliana and Morrigan, you will go to the emerald graves, it’s a dangerous area, be aware of not only the red Templars but also some Venatori that might be wandering around.” She explains and places the raven figure on the map where they will be sent to.  
  
  
“Of course, I will make sure to collect the shards and return as fast as possible.” Leliana responds calmly.  
  
  
“Are there any questions or suggestions?” The inquisitor looks at her advisors.  
  
  
“No, the goal is clear.” Cullen assures.  
  
  
“Well then, we will leave in the early morning, make sure you’re prepared and well rested.” The Harold adds to end the meeting  
  
  


The advisors leave the room to continue their work and inform their other members about the mission. Leliana catches up with the chief diplomat and walks right next to her.  
  
  
“Josie, on a word.” She demands quietly.  
  
  
“You know, I’ve got a ton of work to do, and you should prepare yourself for the mission, it’s been a while since your last outside mission isn’t it? You might be a bit rusty.” she teases her, followed by a cheeky smile.  
  
  
Leliana arches her brows, giving her friend an unimpressed look.  
  
  
“Fine.”  
  
  
Josephine gives in and follows the redhead to the rookery.  
  
  


The bard leans herself against her table, crossing her arms in front of her chest, her eyes resting on Josephine, waiting for an explanation.  
  
  
“Didn’t you assure me you had nothing to do with Morrigan’s presence?” she asks now, her voice is calm but her expression show her anger.  
  
  
“I promise you I had nothing to do with her _presence_ , but the Inquisitor asked for any suggestions for building the most efficient teams. And you may want to deny it, but I know you worked together really well during the time you were traveling together with the Hero of Ferelden. I think any other member besides maybe Varric, would feel very threatened if they had to team up with the famous witch of the wilds.”  
  
  
“And you accidentally forgot to mention that we are not getting along anymore, did you?”  
  
  
“I may… have let that out, yes. But let’s face it, you need to talk to each other, I think there might be a significant miscommunication between the two of you.” The Antivan continues.  
  
  
Leliana looks at her in disbelief at first, but after realizing where she’s coming from it makes her even angrier.  
  
  
“You talked to her behind my back.” She points out, disappointment in her eyes.  
  
  
“She wanted to talk to me not the other way around” she explains.  
  
  
“Well then, I’m thrilled, what did she say, what lies did she present you that changed your mind about her?”  
  
  


“Nothing, and that is the whole point, Leliana” Josephine responds calmly to not upset her friend even more.  
  
  
“What do you mean… nothing?” she pulls her brows together in confusion. This answer doesn’t make sense to her at all.  
  
  
“Morrigan doesn’t know you loved her. She might be a very smart woman but she has no clue when it comes to emotions and affection.” She looks to the redhead, not sure what reaction she will get from her conclusion.  
  
  
Leliana stares at Josephine like she’s waiting for her to start laughing and telling her it was a bad joke. But Josie doesn’t move, she’s quiet. From all the things she was prepared to hear, this is not one of them. Somehow this really upsets her now. _How_ could she not notice how much she meant to her? Maker, even Alistair called her out for her heart eyes she had for the witch and he is really not the smartest warden walking around. She feels like their connection they had back then was nothing but her imagination, a lie. Her hopes there could be more someday? A childish dream. She should have known better by now. And she is angry at herself for it.  
  
  


She pushes herself away from the desk and walks towards her balcony.

Josephine follows her outside.  
  
  
“I should have learned by now, shouldn’t I?” Leliana states, trying to play it down but her voice cracks.  
  
  
“You did nothing wrong and that’s why I’m telling you to talk to her, I’m not trying to punish you, I’m trying to help you, Leliana.”  
  
  
“I don’t think this will change much.”  
  
  
The bard turns around once again, looking into the distance, admiring the snowy mountains trying to distract herself from her thoughts, trying to calm herself down. She hates it to feel vulnerable. And yet the witch managed to push her down into this hole again – without even knowing it, which made it even worse honestly.  
  
Josephine quietly steps closer and puts her arms around the redhead to give her a soft hug. To her surprise Leliana doesn’t even try to push her away. Instead she rests her chin on her shoulder and replies the hug.  
  
  
“Maker, why did you become so proud? It’s not good to suppress your feelings like that all the time…” the antivan says reproachful but softly.  
  
  
“I don’t know…” the bard answers quietly as she finally lets the tears falling down she had been fighting back for so long.  
  
  
Josephine gently pulls her closer.  
  
  
“It’s okay, just let it out”  
  
  


* * *

  
Meanwhile, Morrigan walks back to her room. As she leaves the meeting room she passes Josephine and Leliana. Seeing them whispering and leaving together again is really starting to bother her. She couldn’t quite place those feelings, except – no that would make no sense. Why in the world should she feel jealousy? She doesn’t fancy women. For her to envy Josephine for being so close to her former teammate is ridiculous.  
  


She tries to get rid of those thoughts, she definitely should get some rest now, they are going to start off at sunrise tomorrow and it’s already pretty late.  
When she reaches her room she prepares some things she’s going to take with her on the mission, then lies down on her bed, trying to fall asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kudos and the lovely comments! It makes me really happy! 
> 
> Wish you all a lovely day!

Chapter 5

It is still dark outside, when the core Inquisition members meet at the main gate of Skyhold. Most are wide awake and eager to leave to their chosen destination. While some of them are still half asleep. Sera yawns and leans her head against the Inquisitor’s shoulder.   
  


“Sera, don’t you dare to fall asleep.” Cassandra admonishes her.   
  


“I’m wide awake!” she replies defending herself, without moving one inch away from the Harold.   
  


“Well I gotta admit, it is pretty damn early for me to be awake as well.” Varric points out.   
  


“You wouldn’t be that tired if you would have slept instead of drinking and writing all night, Varric.” Cassandra lectures him.   
  


“Hey someone has to keep track of all this chaos that’s happening these days, Seeker, or people will never know the truth about the Herald of Andraste and her heroic adventures.” he responds calmly.   
  


“He’s got a point!” Sera snorts.

Cassandra just lets out an annoyed noise.   
  


“Can we leave now perhaps?” she asks unpatient, looking at the inquisitor.  
  
  
“Uh… yes, grab your partners and let’s not waste any more time! Be careful everyone!”

After leaving the Fortress every team starts to go towards another direction. Soon Morrigan and Leliana are on their own. The first sun beams are starting to show up on the mostly still dark sky. The daggers on Leliana’s belt reflect the soft light. This is the moment the witch realizes that the bard wears her old armor.

  
The same dark plates on her shoulders that extend on one side to her forearm, the dark red leather pieces even with the silver sword of mercy sigil on it. The dark boots in which she used to step through every area as silent as a cat and of course her bow and arrows she carries on her back. This gives her some flashbacks of their time together for sure. Mostly good ones in fact. She has to admit that she misses those times with the warden and the others, even Alistair. And she missed ‘the pretty redhead’, as Zevran used to call her, the most. This thought reminded her of a conversation she once had with him.

_Zevran walks up to Morrigan while she was on the night watch._

_“My dear Morrigan, I’ve noticed you have a soft spot for the pretty redhead, yes?” he sits down next to her in front of the fireplace of the camp and looks at the witch with a pleased smirk._

_Morrigan gives him an unimpressed, slightly annoyed look._

_“And this absolutely ridiculous conclusion from a failed assassin.” She points out._

_“Oh my dear woman, you can mock me as long as you desire but you know it is the truth. You don’t make as much fun of her anymore and you spend an impressive amount of time in her company – if you consider that you usually spend most of your time in the camp alone.” He arches his brows_

_“I think you may have spent too much time brewing your poison, the vapors obviously burnt some of your brain cells. Not that this would be any of your business anyway.” The witch replies._

_“Well that may be true but have you considered that Leliana might know? Do you really think a well- trained bard would not notice your change of tune or your different body language?” he grins at her._

_Morrigan really didn’t consider this possibility so far and she felt like a fool for not doing so. If even a useless assassin like Zevran notices this of course Leliana would as well._

_“Like I said, this is none of your business. Go annoy someone else Zevran.” She points out to end this conversation._

_Zevran chuckles and gets up. He knew he was right and that’s all he needed to know._

Leliana walks beside the witch, she tries to focus on the way ahead of them and she decides to avoid talking to her companion for as long as possible. She knows, she cannot stay silent forever but maybe long enough to sort her thoughts and figure out what to tell her or even how to start in the first place. She promised Josie she would swallow her pride and talk to Morrigan and she is a woman who keeps her promises, she just needs a little bit more time.  
  
A long and silent walk later their surroundings starts to change. They enter a deep forest with giant trees, big rocks that are mostly covered by moss and some remains of elvish buildings. There aren’t really any paths that lead through the woods that you would find in a regular forest. It’s easy to get lost in a place like this. The plants, the grass and treetops, everything appears in a very rich green. Paired with the almost golden sunbeams that manage to shine through the big trees, the woodland looks like a beautiful painting.  
  
Morrigan curiously looks around as they go deeper into the woods. ‘Emerald´ Graves appears to be truly a fitting name for this place.

“There is a river nearby that flows through the middle of the forest, we should set up our camp somewhere in that area.” Leliana suggests now to finally break the silence between the two of them.

  
“You are familiar to this place?” Morrigan asks with a surprised tune in her voice.   
  
  
“We are on Orlesian ground, I’ve been here before, when I was still working for Marjolaine.” she replies.

  
“The Inquisitor really made her homework when she set up the teams.” The witch points out.  
  
  
“You really think Trevelyan planned this?” Leliana raises her brows.  
  
  
“Well ‘tis what I assumed regarding her title, but I guess she might be the face of the Inquisition but not necessarily the brain is what you’re implying?”   
  
  
“She is our leader, the woman with the anchor who has been chosen by Andraste and saved us in Haven but her advisors are doing most of the research and planning, suggest strategies so she can focus on closing the rifts.”  
  
  
“Interesting, very clever to let it look like the Inquisitor is leading everything on her own. I am impressed.” Morrigan smirks.

There it is again, that self-satisfied smirk Morrigan has that has driven her crazy so many times back then. That sheer self-confidence that woman radiates sometimes is both annoying and kinda hot at the same time. Maker she needs to get rid of those thoughts and focus on the mission.

  
The bard takes a deep breath and just keeps walking, it’s not far anymore, she can already hear the babbling of the river.

“There it is. This should be a good place to set up the camp.” Leliana points to a nice little clearing next to the river.

  
Morrigan stops and inspects the place.   
  
  
“Alright let’s get this done quick then.” She replies and puts down her backpack.   
  
  


Leliana takes the tent out of her bag and starts to put it together, while Morrigan walks to the river to get water to cook and wood for the fire. They don’t even have to communicate, they prepared a camp together so many times before, that both of them just know their part instinctively. The fire making is Morrigan’s duty since the day she made fun of Alistair for taking too long to create a flame. He was so pissed he asked the warden to decide that the witch should do it from now on. This thought still amuses her and she caught herself smiling at this memory. She should really visit him sometime.

Morrigan returns to their camp and places the collected wood carefully on the ground and puts some stones in a circle around it to prevent the fire to spread later. Then she ignites the wood with a simple hand movement.   
  
The bard prepares the finished tent for the night and looks over to her companion when she starts the fire.   
  


“Still have to brag with your fireplace, don’t you?”   
  
  
“Not at all.” She replies with a grin on her lips while cooking their dinner on the pot.

  
Leliana rolls her eyes and sits down in front of the fireplace. She feels pretty tired, she didn’t get much sleep, too much going on in her mind and the long walk to the Emerald Graves didn’t help either.   
She watches the witch stirring the stew, it almost feels like they traveled back in time. But now is not the time to get sentimental over the past. They have to get some rest and find the shards tomorrow.   
  
  


They barely talk while eating as well and sometime later they both crawled into the tent. It is big enough for two people but there is not enough space between the two of them for Leliana’s taste. She lays down on her sleeping mat, her dagger right next to her, staring at the top of the tent, hoping she will fall asleep fast.   
  
Morrigan lays down next to the bard. It feels strange to sleep right next to her, not that they never shared a tent before. It happened on rare occasions, like the one time Morrigan had a heavily poisoned wound after a fight with some antivan assassins that followed Zevran to the camp. Leliana insisted to stay with her during the night to take care of her and her fever.

  
That was obviously during the time they got along better than now. But sharing a tent with her still feels weirdly comforting. 

  
She glances over to the redhead for a moment before she closes her eyes and falls asleep shortly after.

  
Luckily the night is calm and they both get some halfway restful sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

With the first few sunbeams they both get ready to wander through the woods to collect those weird shards. It’s quite calm, there are a few bird noises but most creatures that live in this forest seem to be still asleep. Some mist is hovering over the ground which makes it even harder to keep the right track.

“According to scout Harding the shards should be in an area a bit more south from where we are right now.” Leliana points in a direction ahead of them.

“Let us not waste any more time then.” Morrigan keeps walking.  
  
The both of them continue to go deeper into the giant forest and look around for any traces of the shards, they should reflect the sunlight so they keep looking for something shimmering between the rocks and trees.

Suddenly Morrigan grabs Leliana’s wrist and pulls her back behind a big tree.

Leliana gives her a confused look but before she could say anything, Morrigan gives her a signal to be quiet by putting her index finger on her dark purple lips. The redhead closes her mouth. Her back is pressed against the tree trunk, the witch is standing right in front of her, only inches apart. Her hand is still wrapped around her wrist.

Then the bard hears steps. They are heavy and she also notices a growling voice. Those must be red Templars, which means they are very close to their destination. Luckily the steps recede, they have not noticed them hiding behind that tree.

Leliana looks at the witch in front of her.  
  
  


“How did you hear them so early?”  
  
“I did not. I could sense their red lyrium.” She explains.

“I see, this makes sense I guess.” The redhead replies then looks at her wrist. “You can let go of me now by the way, we should hurry up.”  
  
  


The witch immediately lets go of the bard like she just burned her hand.

She clears her throat.

“You’re right, let us go and complete the mission.”

Maker what was that. If her mother could see her now she would laugh in her face for being such a fool. She was fine living her life by herself for so long and now she almost craves for physical contact with that ex chantry girl.

Morrigan sure is familiar with the sexual kind of physical needs, she has spent various nights with men before. But this one is different. Having her around makes her slightly nervous for some reasons but at the same time she gives her this strange feel of comfort. And she really starts to like it a lot more than she should.

The witch follows the bard further south. The way is longer than it seemed but after a while they see something shimmering between two rocks in front of them. They take a closer look at it and it really is the first shard of the three they are supposed to find here.

“They look different from what I have expected” Leliana points out as she picks up the shard from the ground.

It’s a very old looking, imperfectly rectangular stone plate of the size of book with an engraved skull inside of a circle on it. It also has a strange blue glow.

“What did you expect? A regular glass shard?” Morrigan asks arching her brows.  
  
  
“I mean not regular but… sort of?” the bard replies and puts the shard carefully in her bag. “Anyway, there are two more to find.”

Morrigan smirks and continues looking for the other pieces, then she stops and turns around.

“I don’t want to trouble you but I sense red lyrium, a lot of it.” She now takes her staff.

  
“They shall come and try then.”

Leliana stops and takes her bow and places an arrow ready to shoot. She scans the area around them for the red Templars. Which direction will they come from? She listens for any footsteps or breaking sticks. Any movement and she will shoot. It’s been a while since she was standing on a battlefield but of course she continued training her body and mind after she became spymaster of the Inquisition. She’s positive they will be able to defeat them no matter how many they are.

And in this moment she sees one of them next to a big rock. He looks nothing like a normal Templar anymore. Their skin is unnaturally pale, veins literally shine through. They have red eyes and the tainted lyrium grows out of various body parts. They honestly look even worse than darkspawn. Unbelievable that those monsters were humans once.

The bard shoots her first arrow and hits him between the eyes. He lets out a growling noise of pain but he keeps walking towards them.

She shoots a second one into his chest where his heart – if he even still has one, should be located, this time he falls down to the ground. She switches to her daggers now, because she doesn’t have the range for her arrows to be effective enough as the come closer.  
  
  
  
Morrigan freezes three of them to a block of ice, then hits them with a powerful lightning bolt. The Ice shatters and so do the Templars who were trapped inside and the remaining pieces are falling to the ground.

“I got three, how many do you have?” the witch smirks.

  
Leliana pulls out her bloody dagger out of the throat of another dead templar.  
  
  
“Four.” She replies, arching her brows before confronting the next enemy.

While she dodges the attack from the one in front of her, a second one suddenly shows up and grabs her neck from behind. The bard tries to loosen his grip to breath, she uses the Templar in front of her as a wall for a backflip and lands behind her second attacker, which couldn’t react fast enough and gets stabbed in the back and falls to the ground.

Leliana pierces the remaining Templar through the chest. But before she can even catch her breath she spots three more of them running towards her.  
  
  
“Maker how many are there??”  
  
  
She takes down one, then notices she’s surrounded by four of them. The bard manages to dodge two attacks before getting hit and slammed to the ground. Her back hits the floor, the air gets pressed out of her lungs from the rough impact. She can barely roll to one side to escape another strike but she knows there’s no way to escape the hits from the others. She tries to shield her most vulnerable body parts, closes her eyes and waits for the blow.  
  
  
But it doesn’t come.  
  
  
The redhead opens her eyes, that’s when she sees that her attackers get thrown away like some kind of a shockwave just hit them. They fall to the ground where they stay. She gets up and looks around to find Morrigan who lowers her hands after summoning that barrier spell that protected her.  
She wants to say something, when she sees one of the bigger ones of the red Templars right behind the witch. He raises his arm, Morrigan turns around to face him, only to watch him pushing his blade into her chest.

  
“Morrigan!!”  
  
  
The bard runs toward her as fast as her feet carry her. Anger and fear running through her body. Her pulse racing.  
  
  
Morrigan let's out a painful moan before she channels her power and throws a lightning ball at his face to push him away from her.  
  
  
The Templar lets out a roar and stumbles a few steps backwards. Leliana smashes her blade with all her remaining strength right into his chest before he can even make another move. He falls to the ground with a blunt impact.  
  
  
Morrigan pants and collapses seconds after.

  
The bard turns around to find the witch lying on the floor motionless. Blood leaving her body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit shorter than I planned but I felt like it would be a nice cliffhanger to end it there :)
> 
> I'm actually pretty overwhelmed that you guys left so many kudos on this fic! So thank you very much! It makes me really happy!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day guys :) 
> 
> Sadly i got a bit of a bad timing chapter vice haha I wish I could upload another one on this day but well I hope you enjoy it anyway! 
> 
> Thanks for the Kudos and your lovely comments <3

Chapter 7

Leliana rushes to check on Morrigan. She kneels down next to her. Fear takes over her mind and her hands are shaking. The worst case scenario starts to play in her head. She realizes this could be it, this could be the moment she loses the woman she still loves despite everything that happened and how much she got hurt. She feels a stinging pain in her chest. Letting her walk out of her life was hard enough, but this? The thought of losing her forever really makes her fight back tears.

  
Her heart is racing as she very carefully turns Morrigan’s body around to see her face and the wound. The moment she sees that the witch is in fact still breathing lets her ease her tensed muscles at least a little bit. She is paler than usual for sure, there is a lot of blood and it doesn’t look like it would stop bleeding anytime soon. The wound looks deep but the position gives her hope that no organs has been damaged.

  
“Morrigan…?” the redhead calls her, but she gets no response.  
  
  
The bard hurries to get her bag and takes out some bandages to put on a printing compound to stop or at least slow down the bleeding.   
  
This is her fault. She didn’t pay enough attention of her surroundings. If she didn’t get into that situation, Morrigan wouldn’t have helped her and let her own guard down while doing so and she would have noticed that Templar way earlier. And this … didn’t happen. If she doesn’t make it… she’s the only one to blame. And she will never forgive herself.

  
She looks at her shaking hands that are covered in Morrigan’s blood and has to fight the lump in her throat. No she cannot let that happen. She needs to get her back to the camp and treat that wound more properly. Also they cannot stay here between all these dead Templars, that’s for sure.

  
As Leliana is about to pick the witch up, she opens her eyes.   
  
  
“Blast and damnation…!” she curses under her breath.   
  
  
The bard almost tears up. Normally she would rebuke her for her language but she’s never been happier to hear her cursing.   
  
  
“How do you feel…?”   
  
  
“Never felt better.” She responds sarcastically and slowly tries to get up. She feels that throbbing pain coming from her shoulder area. It doesn’t even matter if she’s moving or not. It’s ridiculous how her instinct made her chose to protect the bard instead of turning around the moment she noticed someone sneaking up behind her. She’s lucky that this bastard had the worst aim and didn’t hit her lungs or her heart.

  
“Let’s leave this bloody wood already!” She sounds pretty fed up and who could deny her that.   
  


Leliana offers her help to get up, but the witch refuses and uses her staff instead to get back on her feet.   
  
  
“Alright. Let us go back to the camp before it gets dark, then return to Skyhold in the morning.”   
  
  
With those words they get their bags and head back to their camp they set up near the river. They are both pretty exhausted. The only good news is that the bard found the two missing shards in the bag one of the red Templars was carrying. So at least they fulfilled the task.

  
When they arrive at the tent, Morrigan ignites the fireplace, then sits down in front of it. She’s still quite pale and her exhaustion is clearly visible even though she tries to hide it. The aching coming from her injury is very present.

  
Leliana sits down next to her with some clean cloths and fresh bandages. The compound she made earlier is already soaked in blood. She starts to gently take them off and clean the wound more properly this time.   
  
  
And Morrigan lets her to her surprise.

„The cold blooded spymaster so caring, be careful or one might think we are still something like friends.“ Morrigan mocks her.

„Just because I’m mad at you it doesn’t mean I want you to get impaled by red Templars, Morrigan.“ she replies calmly, but firmly, her eyes on the injury.

The witch doesn‘t say anything, she silently watches the bard continuing her task.

Leliana finishes cleaning the wound and presses a clean cloth against it to hold the bleeding enough until her blade is hot enough to burn it out.

„You know, since you cannot really run away right now, you could finally explain to me why you left.“ Leliana demands, now looking directly at the witch and then takes one of her blades and holds it near the flames to slowly heat the metal.

Morrigan swallows, she forgot how intrigue her look can be. She feels already nervous enough because the redhead is unusual close to her but now she starts to feel a bit dizzy as well, it might be the blood loss that kicks in or maybe just the pain from the injury itself – probably a mix of all of them. She fears she might pass out that’s why she decides to just get over with it quick.

Her thoughts get interrupted when Leliana takes the cloth away and presses the glowing red blade against her wound. The witch lets out a painful groan and she clings to the fabric of her clothing. Every muscle in her body tenses. The blood hisses under the heat of the steel and after a moment the wound starts to seal itself up and the bleeding finally stops. Morrigan takes a deep breath.   
  
  
“Bloody blast it!! Couldn’t you have warned me maybe??” she hisses und her breath.  
  
  
“Sorry, I thought this was the most effective way.” She carefully wipes off the rest of the blood with a soft towel and some clean water.

  
“T’was the only solution that crossed my mind. I began to enjoy your company, a bit too much for my taste, it… confused me because I had no logical explanation for it. It was driving me mad. I never experienced anything similar to this in my life. Sometimes I got that sudden fear you might get seriously injured or even fall during a battle. It made me unfocused and weak, and it needed to stop.” Morrigan explains.

  
“And as you can easily see it still affects me to this day.” She scoffs and points her head to the wound on her shoulder.   
  
  
The bard raises a brow, she’s surprised Morrigan actually gave her a serious and honest sounding answer.

  
“You know that I figured you didn’t exactly hate me, right? The change of tunes, the amount of time you started to spend with me, I’m trained to keep track of those little things. Did you really not notice I’ve been flirting with you for _months?_ I waited for you to make a move, but you never did. Instead you vanished and left me brokenhearted and questioning my own perception, my skills as a bard. _Everything_.” She tries to sound calm but she can’t hide that she’s been hurt.  
  
  
Morrigan gives her a puzzled look. She can’t believe that at the end of the day, that useless assassin Zevran was right. She _did_ notice and it annoys her so much. Her head is starting to hurt a bit and the dizziness is definitely not getting better either. This whole conversation is just really frustrating and she clearly doesn’t have the energy to hold back her next words.

  
“And how would I know?? You are a bard, you flirt with literally _everyone_ all the time.”

Leliana looks at the witch in utter disbelief. Those words, they feel like a knife right through her already broken heart.

“Wow. This is really what you think?!” the bard gets up in anger.

“Tis’ how it looked like for me.” She answers defending. “But why does it even bother you, you obviously found your romance in your precious ambassador, no?” the witch now points out what has been bothering her since the moment she arrived at the inquisition.

“Josie?!” she arches her brows. “Oh for Andraste’s sake, Josephine and I are friends, not lovers.” She sighs. “I cannot believe this, are you telling me you are seriously jealous??”

Morrigan now gets up as well to face her on the same level - she regrets this immediately. Her head starts spinning, her vision turns black. Then she faints.

“Morrigan!”

The bard catches her before she hits the floor then gently puts her on the ground. She places her hand on the witch’s forehead to check if she got a fever but fortunately it doesn’t feel any warmer than normal. The wound doesn’t look infected or poisoned either. It’s probably just the blood loss or the exhaustion that caused her fainting.

It’s getting dark, so she decides to get her into their tent. Leliana carefully lifts her teammate up and carries her inside the tent. She lays her on the sleeping mat on her back and raises her legs a few inches so they are above heart level to get the blood to flow towards her head. She is really glad she learned some basic medical knowledge during her time in Lothering because the sisters of the chantry often provide first aid for injured immigrants.

The redhead sighs and sits down next to the witch. She still tries to process their argument. The lack of communication really appears to be the reason for this mess. Too many things unspoken between the two of them, Josie was right – again.

She looks at Morrigan who’s lying next to her, breathing calmly. And even after their argument earlier, she dares to think that maybe it’s not too late to fix some previous mistakes… Maybe they could rebind where they parted. And the longer she thinks about it, the more she wants to keep this stubborn witch in her life.

A few moments later Morrigan wakes up and immediately wants to sit up.

“You should not get up yet, it’s a long way back to Skyhold and you will need your energy tomorrow.“ Leliana warns her.

Morrigan lets out an annoyed sigh but she does lay back down. She has to admit that the redhead is right about that point. And she does feel quite exhausted. Her mind is restless, somehow she’s glad she fainted, who knows how that argument would have ended if it didn’t get interrupted. Maybe they would have had a serious fight or stopped talking to each other completely. She regrets already some of the things she said and she wants to apologize but at the same time she doesn’t want to wrap it up again. At least not now.

„Fine. Good night then.“ She responds and closes her eyes.

Leliana has a soft smile on her lips. She really didn’t change at all and she was actually glad about that. It’s nice to have something consistent and … familiar in these troubled times.

„Good night, Morrigan.“


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

In the early morning hours they get up and get ready to leave the forest. They dismantle the tent and pack their stuff. Neither of them got a lot of sleep because of different reasons. For Morrigan it was the pain that didn’t really let her sleep. And Leliana didn’t get any rest because her mind has been restless all night.

She has been thinking of all the things she could or _should_ have done. Not only during the battle with the red Templars yesterday but also back then in Ferelden. All those ‘what if’s’ are driving her insane.

  
After a long walk they can see the end of the woods. There are less trees and sun manages to actually shine through. Morrigan walks ahead, she likes the wilds but she cannot wait to get back to the fortress. At this point she’s definitely sick of the color green. She’s ready to step out of that bloody forest.

  
  
A few hours later they finally arrive at Skyhold. They are both tired and glad to be back.

  
„I’m going to deliver the shards to Dagna. You should visit our quarter healer and let her check on your injury.“ Leliana tells her companion and before Morrigan could even respond, shes already on her way to the blacksmith.

  
Morrigan sighs. She hates it when others tell her what to do but it does sound like a reasonable thing to do. But first she really wants to take a hot bath, she’s freezing from climbing the frostback-mountain to get back here and even though she wiped off most of it she still feels like she’s covered in blood. She gets her belongings to her room, then makes her way to the guest bath, Josephine showed her during her tour when she first arrived at Skyhold and prepares some clean clothes as well for when she gets out.

  
When the tub is full she enters and let’s herself slide into the water. It feels nice and warm and she’s able to relax for a bit. She rests her head against the edge of the tub and closes her eyes for a moment.

  
Then she cleans herself and gets dressed after. She still has to go visit lazaret. She spotted it somewhere near the training ring while wandering around the fortress. So she walks outside to find the healer there.

* * *

Leliana leaves the bathroom, a towel around her shoulders to dry her still wet hair when Josephine crosses her way.

“Oh you’re back! Thank Andraste!” the antivan immediately gives her a hug.

  
“Yes, we arrived maybe 2 hours ago.” The bard replies.

  
“I was worried about you, we received a letter from one of your spies that reported a group of red Templars is headed in your direction.”   
  
  
“Mhm we met them.”   
  
  
The ambassador’s eyes widen in surprise, then she seems to inspect her friend for any injury. “Did you get into a fight?”   
  
  
The bard nods. “We did, I’m fine, don’t worry about me. Just a few bruises and scratches. It’s Morrigan who got injured pretty badly.” Her expression mirrors the guilt she still feels about that.

  
“How is she…?” she asks almost carefully.

“Luckily it seems like no organs got hit, lost quite some blood though, I sent her to our healer just to make sure.”

  
“That is good to hear!” She really is relieved to hear she’s doing okay as well, depending on the circumstances. “And…Did you speak to her?” she looks at her friend curiously.

  
“I… did. And there is a chance you _might_ have been right.”

  
The Ambassador arches her brows, waiting to get more details about that talk.

  
The bard sighs. “Perhaps we had a miscommunication back then. But we also had an argument during the mission and I do not know how to fix this right now.”

  
“I’m sure you will figure something out, you always do. And I’m here if you need me, okay?”   
  
  
“I know, thank you Josie.” The bard gives her a soft smile.  
  


“Good, now get some rest!” she commands.

  
“Yes, Ma’am.” She teases her, then goes to her room.

  
Josephine shakes her head as she watches her leave.

Back in her room, she finishes drying off her hair, then hangs the towel over a chair on her desk to dry as well. She looks out of the window, she didn’t even notice how it’s already getting dark outside again. She feels the exhaustion and the bruises on her body she got during the fight. She really hopes she will get more sleep this night.

  
The moment she wants to lay down on her bed she hears a knocking on the door. She runs her hand through her hair and gets up again. Maker don’t let it be Cullen, she really doesn’t have the energy right now to discuss about red lyrium and whatnot. She opens the door and to her surprise it’s definitely not Cullen.

  
Instead the dark haired witch stands in front of the door, looking at her with her amber eyes. She does look better than in the morning and with better, she means healthier.

  
“Now before you assume I spied on you to find your room, tis not the case. Josephine told me which one it is.” The witch points out as a greeting.

  
“Why are you here, Morrigan?” the bard asks, arching her brows, but she steps aside to allow her to pass and close the door behind her.

  
Morrigan enters the room and takes a short look at it. It’s a nice place with big windows on two sides of the wall and a balcony on one side. There’s a well-organized wooden desk, a few shelves and a big bed.

  
Then she looks at the bard.

  
“I am here because I feel like I owe you an apology. What I said yesterday, during our argument, about the flirting? I… I didn’t mean it and I shouldn’t have said that, especially because you got us some important information in the process during the blight.”

  
Leliana looks at her slightly confused.

  
“You came here to apologize…?” she tilts her head.

  
“Well I did. And seeing your reaction now, I feel incredibly silly for doing so.”

  
The redhead looks at her, not sure how to react to this situation. Did that really bug her so much that the usually selfish witch of the wilds comes here to apologize? Does she really care that much about her? Of course her words hurt her deeply but she would have never expected her to realize that or even feeling sorry for it. In this moment she can feel her anger, which has been stuck for so long, fading. And it leaves space for something else.

  
Morrigan sighs frustrated at the lack of response she gets from the bard.

  
“You know what, never mind. Forget that I—“

  
She gets interrupted. Leliana steps closer and cups her face with both hands. Then she places a kiss on her dark purple lips.

Morrigan’s heart skips a beat when she feels Leliana’s soft lips on her own. Her pulse is racing and there’s a warm and tingly feeling running down her back. She never felt this before and the maker knows this is not her first kiss for sure. She could have never imagined what it would be like to actually develop this kind of silly feelings and yet… she finds herself wanting it – wanting her.

  
And she dares to kiss her back.

  
The bard pulls her closer the moment she realizes, Morrigan replies the kiss. How long has she been waiting to do that? It feels right and she is really happy for the first time in something that felt like forever.

  
Then she gently pulls away to look at her.

“Was that clear enough for you now?” the bard teasingly asks with a smirk on her face.

  
“I – Yes. I think that will do.” She replies, slightly overwhelmed.

Leliana smiles and gives her a tight hug.

  
“I missed you, Morrigan.” She whispers.

  
The witch is really surprised by this kind of affection and to hear those words from the spymaster but she cannot deny that she likes it.

  
“I missed you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally planned this to be the end of the fic but you know what? I decided to write a bonus chapter (or maybe even two, depending on what ideas i can come up with) so stay tuned :) 
> 
> Thank you guys so much for all the kind comments and the kudos <3 You gave me the boost I needed to continue writing when I thought I couldn't get through a writer's block.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading this fanfic! I'm very happy to see you seemed to actually enjoy it! 
> 
> This story is finished at this point but I got a little something planned for a sort of sequel chapter. I'm not sure If I should post it as a one shot or an actual chapter of this fic. We will see I guess :) 
> 
> Have a nice day and thank you for the support! <3

Chapter 9

  
Leliana smiles when she hears those words from Morrigan. She’d never expect her to actually say something like this out loud, she’s usually way too proud to admit any form of attachment. But she’s really happy that she did.

The bard then slowly let’s go of the witch.

“You know, as much as I hate to ruin the moment, I have a lot of paper work to do tomorrow, and I think I should head to bed.” She announces in an apologizing tune.

“Of course.” The witch nods understanding and clears her throat. “Would you mind, If I stayed the night…?” she looks at the redhead, arching her brows.

Leliana’s expression immediately lights up.

“Not at all.”   
  
  
She lets herself fall into her bed and waits for Morrigan to do the same. Then she cuddles up to her, careful not to accidentally put any pressure on her injury. She can’t remember when she felt so happy and at peace with herself like she does in this moment. At some point she’s almost scared she might wake up from a beautiful dream anytime and find herself cold and alone again. But she tries to focus on the moment and treasure every bit of it.   
  
Morrigan lets her. She notices once again how much she likes the smell of her perfume. It’s sweet but not too sweet with a nice touch of Andraste’s grace. The redhead being so close to her gives her a mixed feeling of comfort and nervousness. She does enjoy it though, more than she ever thought she would.

“What are you staring at? Didn’t you want to sleep?” the witch asks when she notices her glance.

“I just really love looking at your eyes. When it’s dark they almost seem to glow, reflecting the tiniest source of light.”

This caught her of guard for sure. She can feel the heat raising up her cheeks, luckily it’s too dark to actually see her blush.   
  
  
“You really need some sleep.” She mumbles and closes her eyes to cover her embarrassment. It is ridiculous how a silly compliment throws her off so easily. Many men have tried to flatter her with blunt compliments on her appearance, some of them actually tried to be extra creative but none of them ever managed to impress her in any way. And now here’s this cunning bard, succeeding so effortlessly where they all failed.

  
The bard looks amused. She likes to bring out Morrigan’s softer, more approachable side. She places a soft kiss on her forehead before she closes her eyes as well.

* * *

When Morrigan wakes up, to her surprise the other side of the bed is empty. She sits up, to look around the room.   
  
  
“I didn’t mean to wake you up.” The redhead looks at the witch, closing the door to her closet after getting dressed and ready.   
  


“You did not.” She replies while she gets up and carefully stretches herself a bit. She did in fact wake up because she didn’t feel the warmth of her body next to her anymore but she would never tell her that.

  
Leliana gives her a smile, then looks to her injured shoulder.   
  
  
“How are you feeling…?”   
  
  
“I’m fine, tis healing.” The witch answers calmly. And she does feel better, the pain is still there but it’s less severe. She also feels surprisingly well rested, she didn’t sleep that calm in a while.

  
The bard is relieved to hear and see she is feeling better.

  
Morrigan steps towards her and pulls Leliana’s hood down to her face with a quick movement. “Now stop treating me like some damsel in distress.”   
  


Leliana takes the hood off her face. “I wouldn’t dare, I simply care about you.” she raises her brows then fixes her hair that got messed up by Morrigan’s action.   
  
  
The witch gives her a smirk, she still enjoys teasing her, a lot.   
  
  
“I know, now have fun with your paper work.”   
  
  
“Well at least my reports probably won’t attack me.” she points out.  
  
  
“Don’t you be so sure about that.” 

Leliana shakes her head and leaves her room and heads to the rookery. On her way to the stairs she sees Josephine walking towards her.

  
“I was hoping to meet you!” the Antivan starts, seeming delightful. “I think you have some news for me, don’t you? Because a certain beautiful, dark haired witch wanted to know where to find your room yesterday.” she arches her brows, the curiosity is written on her face.

  
“I don’t know what kind of news you’re talking about” Leliana looks at her with her famous poker face.

  
“Oh I think you do, you obviously had a talk, so tell me, did you come to an agreement, or did it end in a fight again?” she keeps digging.   
  
  
Leliana thinks about what to tell her for a moment. She decides to keep it vague, she enjoys to let her fidget a little bit.   
  
  
“Kind of an agreement” she replies calmly.

  
“Leliana! Why don’t you just tell me, it can’t be that bad, can it?”   
  
  
The bard remains silent and looks at her friend who’s clearly getting impatient.

Then Josie suddenly gasps.

  
  
“What is it?” Leliana gives her a puzzled look.  
  
  
“Your ‘agreement’ is sharing the bed, is it not? That would explain why you’re in a quite good mood this morning, my dear.” she bluntly concludes with a smirk on her face.   
  
  
“Would you maybe keep your volume down a little?” the bard demands.

  
“I’m sorry! But…, that means you did??”

  
The ambassador sound unusual excited about this.

  
“Maker, no. We kissed, yes, but nothing else happened.”

  
The antivan gives her friend a big smile. She is really relieved to know that they finally talked for real and cleared their misunderstandings. It is really good to see her dear friend more cheerful again after all the pain she has been through the last few years.

  
“I am really happy for you anyway!”   
  
  
Leliana smiles slightly embarrassed. “Thank you Josie, I mean it, I wouldn’t have talked to her if you didn’t force me to.”   
  
  
“Of course. I was rooting for you guys, you know.” She chuckles.   
  
  
“I would have never guessed.” the redhead replies sarcastically but clearly amused.

  
“You can make fun of me all you want, but I was right.” The ambassador protests.   
  
  
The bard grins. “I know, but for the love of Andraste, don’t tell Cullen about this, or he will give me one of his endless “all mages are bad” speeches.”  
  
  
“I won’t, I promise.” She assures her. “But I will tell Cassandra and Varric and Dorian and Sera… oh! And I’ll absolutely have to write Alistair about it!”   
  
  
Leliana sighs theatrical.   
  
  
“Well we will talk about this again later, okay? I should get some work done.”

  
She waves and goes upstairs to her desk at the rookery. Maybe she shouldn’t have told her about it yet. Morrigan is going to kill her when everyone starts to point out their relationship. But she can’t help but smile even though there’s a big list of reports she has to write and letters she has to answer, laying in front of her.


End file.
